NASKAH PUBLIKASI
AMMU’S REVOLT AGAINST THE CASTE SYSTEM IN ARUNDHATI ROY’S THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS (1997): A FEMINIST APPROACH
Ditulis oleh :
NUR ‘AINIE A. 320 060 232
PENDIDIKAN BAHASA INGGRIS
FAKULTAS KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH SURAKARTA
2012
Surat Persetujuan Artikel Publikasi Ilmiah
Yang bertanda tangan dibawah ini pembimbing skrpsi / tugas akhir :
Nama : Dr. Phil. Dewi Chandraningrum, M.Ed) (Pembimbing I)
NIK : 772
Nama : Titis Setyabudi, SS.M.Hum (Pembimbing I)
NIK : 948
Telah membaca dan mencermati naskah artikel publikasi ilmiah, yang merupakan
ringkasan skripsi (tugas akhir) dari mahasiswa:
Nama : NUR „AINIE NIM : A. 320 060 232
Program Studi : FKIP Bahasa Inggris :
Judul Skripsi : Ammu‟s Revolt Against the Caste System in Arundhati Roy‟s The God of Small Things (1997): A Feminist Approach
Naskah artikel tersebut, layak dan dapat disetujui untuk dipublikasikan.
Demikian persetujuan dibuat, semoga dapat dipergunakan seperlunya.
Nur „Ainie ( Student )
Dewi Candraningrum ( Consultant I )
Titis Setyabudi( Consultant II)
( School of Teacher Training and Education, Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta)
Ainienur04@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The object of the research is a novel entitled The God of Small Things written by Arundhati Roy. The study focuses on the feminist perspective of the novel. The major problem of this study is to depict how is Ammu‟s revolt against the caste system reflected in Arundhati Roy‟s The God of Small Thing novel. The objectives of the study are to analyze the structural elements of the novel and to analyze the novel based on the feminist perspective.
This research is the qualitative approach. The data sources are divided into two, namely primary data source and secondary data source. The primary data source is the novel itself. The method of the data collection is documentation research. The technique of data analyzes is descriptive analyzes.
The results of the research show the following conclusions. Firstly, based on the structural analysis, Arundhati Roy wants to deliver a message to the reader that revolt against the caste system in The God of Small Things occurs because of social contexts. Secondly, based on the feminist analysis it shows that Arundhati Roy reflects the people in that time were still living under colonial rule and the caste system.
1. INTRODUCTION
Background of the study :The caste system in India is an important part of ancient Hindu tradition and dates back to 1200 BCE. The term
caste was first used by Portuguese travelers who came to India in the 16th
century. Caste comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word "casta" which
means "race", "breed", or "lineage". Many Indians use the term "jati".
There are 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub castes in India, each related to a
specific occupation. These different castes fall under four basic varnas
Brahmins for priests, Kshatryas for warriors, Vaishyas for traders, and
Shudra for laborers.
Caste not only dictates one's occupation, but dietary habits and
interaction with members of other castes as well. Members of a high caste
enjoy more wealth and opportunities while members of a low caste
perform menial jobs. Outside of the caste system are the Untouchables.
Untouchable jobs, such as toilet cleaning and garbage removal, require
them to be in contact with bodily fluids. They are therefore considered
polluted and not to be touched. The importance of purity in the body and
food is found in early Sanskrit literature. Untouchables have separate
entrances to homes and must drink from separate wells. They are
considered to be in a permanent state of impurity. Untouchables were
named "Harijans" (Children of God) by Gandhi. He tried to raise their
status with symbolic gestures such as befriending and eating with
Untouchables. Upward mobility is very rare in the caste system. Most
people remain in one caste their entire life and marry within their caste.
In Arundhati Roy's novel, The God of Small Things, the laws of
India's caste system are broken by the characters of Ammu and Velutha, an
Untouchable or Paravan. Velutha works at the Paradise Pickles and
Preserves Factory owned by Ammu's family. Yet, because he is an
Untouchable, the other workers resent him and he is paid less money for
his work. Velutha's presence is unsettling to many who believe he acts
lack of hesitation. An unwarranted assurance. In the way he walked. The
way he held his head. The quiet way he offered suggestions without being
asked. Or the quiet way in which he disregarded suggestions without
appearing to rebel.
Suzanna Arundhati Roy grew up in Ayemenem, a village in the state
of Kerala, in southern India. She was born on 24 November 1961. Her
father, a Hindu tea planter from Begal, was divorced from her Syrian
Christian mother when Roy was very young, and Roy was raised by her
mother, who ran an informal school. Roy left home when she was sixteen and lived in a squatter‟s colony in New Delhi, selling empty beer bottles for a living. She eventually went to architectural school and married a
fellow student, Gerard Da Cunha. In recent years, Roy has published
several non fiction books, such as The Algebra of Infinite Justice (2001),
Power politics (2001), and The Ordinary person‟s Guide to Empire
(2004), just to name a few.
In this study of The God of Small Things novel, Indian
multiculturalism is the central concern. There are some issues in the novel,
one of them is transgression of the twins violates all biological norms.
Throughout history, societies have circumscribed certain forms of
intimacy in the family setting. Disturbing a family relationship with generate an individual responsibilities to do incest. Ammu‟s revolt against the caste system is reflected in Arundhati Roy‟s The God of Small Thingsis one of appealing aspect that is interesting to be studied. Roy describes how Ammu‟s revolt against the caste system. It is one of the issues that make this novel‟s story be interesting.
Based on the previous reasons the writer will observe Arundhati Roy‟s The God of Small Thingsby using feminism theory. So the writer
Problem Statement :Knowing that the problem is important of the research, the writer proposes “How is Ammu‟s revolt against the caste system reflected in Arundhati Roy‟s The God of Small Thing novel?
Limitation of the Study :The writer focuses this research in analyzingAmmu‟s Revolt against the Caste System in Arundhati Roy‟s The God of Small Things (1997) novel based on a feminist approach.
Objectives of the Study: The objectives of the study are mentioned as followsto analyze The God of Small Thing novel based on the structural
elements of the novel and to describe Ammu‟s Revolt against the Caste System in Arundhati Roy‟s The God of Small Things (1997) novel based on a feminist approach.
Literature Review:The God of Small Thing (1997) novel by Arundhati Roy is an interesting novel. As far as the writer concern, the
research on The God of Small Thing (1997) novel has been conducted by NufikhaHidayah, a State University of Semarang (2006), entitled “Gender Inequalities in Male-and-Female Relationships Found in Arundhati Roy‟s Novel The God of Small Things”.Thefinal project is aimed at analyzing gender inequality issues existing in Roy‟s novel The God of Small Things; which kinds of gender inequalities found in the novel and how gender
inequalities are reflected in the novel.The second study is conducted
byDwiUtami, State University of Semarang (2006), entitled “Psychoanalysis of The Dream Works to Show Roy‟s Despair toward Indian Society in Arundhati Roy‟s “The God of Small Things”. The aim of the study is to find the problems of how the applications of the dream are
and what are the realistic values behind the dreams of the characters.The
third research conducted by SitiAisyah, a Muhammadiyah University
Bareli, India.He tries to explain that there are many other instances of
social exclusion in The God of Small Things (1997).The fifth research is
conducted by Karta Losensky, a Humboldt University student (2008), entitled “Globalization and Colonialism in Arundhati Roy‟s The God of Small Things”. The major aim of the study is to show that “India‟s colonial histories cannot be ignored. The result is globalization and colonialism is
phenomenons which cannot be looked at separately when speaking about India‟s history and present. He tries to give examples of how globalization and colonialism are linked and how that is shown in Arundhati Roy‟s novel The God of Small Things (1997).
Different from five previous writers, the writer has different
perspective; the writer analyzes Ammu‟s Revolt against the Caste System in Arundhati Roy‟s The God of Small Things (1997) using a feminist approach.
2. RESEARCH METHOD
Types of the Study: In the research, the writer uses a qualitative research. It is library research while data source are using literary data. It
purposes to analyze the novel using feminist perspective. The steps to
conduct this research are:Determining the type of the study,determining
the object of the study,determining data and data source,determining
technique of data collection and determining technique of data analysis.
Object of the Study: The object of the study is Arundhati Roy‟s The God of Small Thing (1997) novel. It is analyzed by using a feminist
approach.
Data and Data Source: There are two data sources that are needed to do this research: Primary Data Source is Arundhati Roy‟s The God of Small Thing (1997) novel and the secondary data sources are books and
other sources that support the analysis.
Technique of the Data Collectionis library research, the steps are:reading the novel, determining the character and summary that will be
data, classifying and determining the relevant data and taking notes from
the material and some other resources related to the novel.
The technique used in analyzing the data is descriptive analysis. It concerns with the structural elements of the novel and a feminist approach.
3. UNDERLYING THEORY
a. Feminist Literary Criticism
Feminist literary criticism departs from the phenomena that the
men dominate the literary theories and critics. Feminism is a plural field
of theory and politics, which has competing perspective and
prescriptions for action. In general terms, feminism asserts that sexual
difference is a fundamental and irreducible axis of social organization.
Feminism is centrally concerned with sex as an organization principle
of social life, which is thoroughly saturated with the power relations
subordinating women to men, as Kolodny (in Djajanegara, 2000:
19).The interpretation in feminist criticism is necessary to be seen in
wider contract that is merely literary criticism, since the main priority of
feminism is promoting social and political change (Newton, 1994:39).
Thus, in feminist literary criticism, social background when the work
was made cannot be neglected, because it givens contribution to the
understanding of the work, asRich (in Djajanegara, 2000:28-29).
Feminist literary criticism tries to see women as independent
subject. Thus, feminist literary works mostly written by women, often present women as independent characters that try to break men‟s dominated and to come to self-recognition. In relation to this study, the
writer is going to give illustration of liberal feminist to help the analysis
of this research.
b. Basic Principle of Liberal Feminist
According to Anderson (in Mandell, 1995:5), “In principles, every person is to be given equal opportunities and civil rights, in which every
includes rebel against Patriarchal system, position, role, participation,
and right of women.
1. Rebels against Patriarchal Systemis a society, country, etc controlled
or governed by men(Hornby, 1995:849). This system means that
man becomes superior and women become inferior and
subordinated. In the patriarchal society, women have been seen as a
weaker sex. Recognizing that women are concentrated in the lowest
level and treated as the second classes, therefore, feminism begins
with the aims at deconstructing the image of woman that is build by
the patriarchal society and tries to build gender equality (Mandell, 1995:6). Then, the women‟s struggle rebels against patriarchal system have increased a deeper aspiration forwoman liberty
(Murphy, 1995:44).
2. Women‟s Position. According to Woolf (in Donovan, 1985:184), women are custodians of feminine value system, one that is
inherently anti fascist. The content of ThreeGuineas is a response to
three letters Woolf has received: first, from man who suggests that
she helps to prevent was by contributing to his pacifist society. Then, from women soliciting funds for the rebuilding of women‟s college. And the last requesting money for a society dedicated to helping
women to enter the professions. The three causes above are
interrelated; all might help to prevent man and to eradicate
fascism-so she will be guinea to each but only in condition.
3. Women‟s Right. Right are something owned by every human being. Others cannot determine them. Mandell (1995:4) states that women
have right to define as autonomous beings. Two other aspects of
feminist existential theory must now be discussed. The first concerns
the internalization of others that colonized group experience; and the second, the phenomenological reconstruction of other‟s.
(1995:54),“women are traditionally defined by their roles as daughters, wives, and mother. Women with disabilities are assumed unable to full care taking and partnership roles”. It means that women are always associated with domestic roles.
5. Women‟s Participation. They do not have equal right with man in citizenship with a reason that women are less rational. When women
married, they have duties to her family such as taking care children,
introducing and educating them about the best of morality, and
adjusting herself as wives. Almost everyday they spend times just for
cleaning, washing, or cooking, working in the kitchen and other
household chores. Women as mothers and wives must do the duties
as well as possible.Liberal feminism emphasizes freedom and
equality based on rationale and separation of private and public
affairs. Patriarchal system can be removed by changing individual women‟s attitudes in relation to men.
c. Definition of Caste System
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines
elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal
affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or
socialclass, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong
to the same race, as in India.
Caste not only dictates one's occupation, but dietary habits and
interaction with members of other castes as well. Members of a high
caste enjoy more wealth and opportunities while members of a low
caste perform menial jobs. Outside of the caste system are the
Untouchables. Untouchable jobs, such as toilet cleaning and garbage
removal, require them to be in contact with bodily fluids.
According to the eminent sociologist Andre Béteille, treating
caste as a form of racism is "politically pernicious" and worse,
"scientifically anomalous" since there is no discernible difference in the
d. Structural Elements of the Novel
The novel has a structural element that consists of character
andcharacterization, plot, setting, point of view, and theme.
1. Character and Characterization
a. Character
Beside that, Klarer (1999: 19) explain that, In fictional
literature, authors use many different types of characters to tell
their Mstories. Different types of characters fulfill different roles
in thenarrative process, and with a little bit of analysis:major
character and minor character.
b. Characterization
Klarer (1999: 19) explain that, “Dramatic characterization, or showing, does away with the position of an obvious narrator,
thus avoiding any overt influence on the reader by a narrative mediator.” Characterization is divided become two consist of round character and flat character.
2. Plot
A plot is all the events in a story particularly rendered
towards the achievement of some particular artistic or emotional effect. Kennedy (1983: 9) states that, “plot means the artistic arrangement of those events.” In other words, it's what mostly happened in the story or novel or what the story's general theme
is based on, such as the mood, characters, setting, and conflicts
occurring in a story.
3. Setting
Setting includes the time, location, and everything in which a
story takes place, and initiates the main backdrop and mood for a
story. Elements of setting may include culture, historical period,
geography, and hour. Along with plot, character, theme, and style,
setting is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction.
The narrators greatly differ in kind; however, since
storiesusually are told by someone, virtually every story has some
kind of narrator. To identify the narrator of the story, describing any
part the plays in the events any limits placed upon his knowledge.
The author can adopt:subjective point of view,objective view and.
flash-backs to fill in background.
5. Theme
According Kennedy (1983:103), “Theme of the story is whatever general idea or insight the entire story reveals. In literary
fiction, a theme is seldom so obvious. That is, a theme need not be a
moral or a message; it may be what the happenings add up to, what the story is about.”
6. Style
Kennedy (1983: 75), “Style indicates a mode of expression: the language a writer uses.” In this sense, the notion of style includes such traits as the length and complexity of sentences, and diction, or
choice of word: abstract on concrete, bookish or close to speech.
Involved in the idea of style, too, is any habitual use of imagery,
patterns of sound, figures of speech, or other devices.
4. RESEARCH FINDING
The analysis of the major character‟s condition in Rebel against Patriarchal society, position, role, participation, rights above shows that
each classification of them gives an important part in building the major character‟s struggle in the time she lives.
In Arundhati Roy‟s novel The God of Small Things full of taboo breaking because Ammu revolts against patriarchy. In the novel which
turns out to be the worst among the three because Ammu breaks several
laws. Eventually, it goes so far as she pays with her life for her affair with
Velutha. Ammu has been oppressed by all the men in her life: her father,
Roy compared Ammu‟s situation with Chacko‟s: Ammu is denied education while Chacko is educated at Oxford, Ammu is punished for
divorcing her husband while Chacko is treated as usual, and finally, Ammu
is punished for fulfilling her sexual desires with Velutha while Chacko is
allowed to fulfill all his desires. Roy also compared to Mammachi, Ammu
is a fighter who struggles for equality between the sexes; Ammu is
rebellious as she does not care about the consequences of her actions. Roy
describe that Ammu is a strong person who fights for equality by breaking
several laws, but she is also punished for her actions.
Ammu represents people who actually dare to do „the untouchable caste‟, to transgress the very line that upholds the system of difference that casteism inherently maintains. She represents all those who have suffered due to transgressions against the „Love Laws‟ and gender-specific expectations imposed upon them, sometimes even by paying with their own
lives. The novel itself has given the fictional Ammu and Velutha, as
representations of thousands of cross-caste relationships in the real India, a
voice that resonates all over the world.
Roy expresses this with the character of Pappachi. Pappachi‟s attitude towards his wife, who often beat him with a vase. When the death
of Pappachi, Roy describes how a wife was crying more not because of she
loved him but because of Pappachi used to slouch around the pickle
factory, and was used to being beaten from time to time. She explains in
her novel that human beings were creatures of habit.
Roy describes the violation of human against the law tradition on Ammu and Velutha‟s characters that derived from a different caste. In addition, Roy explained incest between Estha and Rachel implicitly. She
also puts the Sophie Mol‟s character as a symbol of colonial influence on cultural values. Roy tries to display the human‟s behavior on the transgression of revolt againts by Ammu. She explains that revolt againts
occurs because of social contexts, such as caste, Syrian Christian culture,
The major characters in The God of Small Things are constantly
coming up against the forces of society and class. Indian society was
structured for centuries according to very rigid social classes and
boundaries, through what is known as the caste system. Even though the
novel takes place after the caste system stopped being a legal social policy.
The characters still find themselves limited by what is and isn't deemed
socially acceptable for them.
5. CONCLUSION
Based on the analysis of the previous chapters, the study comes
tofollowing conclusion, as follows:1. In this novel, Arundhati Roy wants to
illustrate how women are subordinated an exploited in patriarchal society.
It is based on the reality in the God of Small Things novel that woman‟s rights become number two after men. 2. In this novel, Arundhati Roy wants to say that women‟s right are not given but must be struggled for. It can be seen from Ammu‟s condition in her daily life, she always struggles to get her right of freedom even she has to runaway from her community. 3. In
this novel, Arundhati Roy wants to describe that in order to get their rights
as human being women should be smart and talented. And women are
expected not only to accept the condition and wait for the miracle but they
must struggle to get freedom in all aspect of life. 4. This novel contains
many facts that are revealed by Ammu which reflect rebels against
patriarchal system women‟s position, women‟s role, women‟s right, and women‟s participation in leading her life as a woman. And there are many forms of subordination, oppression, exploitation, and violence toward
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